* Fresh violence on eve of poll could keep voters away
* Opposition leader says she is under virtual house arrest
* Prime minister offers prospect of post-election talks
about future polls
By Ruma Paul and Tony Munroe
DHAKA, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Bangladesh was hit by renewed
violence, with two more people killed on the eve of elections on
Sunday in which the ruling Awami League looks certain to prevail
in a walkover as the main opposition party boycotts the poll.
The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) called a 48-hour strike
from Saturday morning, on top of a transportation blockade, and
urged voters to stay away from the “farcical” election.
Without the BNP’s participation, only 146 of 300
parliamentary constituencies are being contested.
“I call upon countrymen to fully boycott the disgraceful
farce in the name of election of January 5,” BNP chief Begum
Khaleda Zia, who has been under what she calls virtual house
arrest, said in a statement late on Friday. The government has
denied that she is confined or under house arrest.
The BNP is protesting against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s
scrapping of the practice of having a caretaker government
oversee elections and many of its leaders are in jail or in
hiding. The impasse undermines the poll’s legitimacy and is
fuelling worries of economic gridlock and further violence in
the impoverished South Asian nation of 160 million.
The office of prime minister has been held by Hasina or
Khaleda for all but two of the past 22 years and the rivalry
between them is bitter.
The European Union, a duty free market for nearly 60 percent
of Bangladesh’s garment exports, has refused to send election
observers, as have the United States and the Commonwealth, a
grouping of 53 mainly former British colonies.
A ruling party leader was shot dead in southwestern Khulna
overnight and a party youth activist was killed in clashes with
rival BNP supporters in northwestern Lalmonirhat, police said,
as renewed violence flared after several days of relative calm.
Two buses were set on fire in the port city of Chittagong
and more than a dozen polling stations had been torched by
opposition activists since Friday.
At least 10 people were injured when BNP activists hurled
bombs at a railway station and set on fire a train compartment
in the northern town of Natore, police said.
With more than 100 people killed in the run-up to the
election, mainly in rural districts, fears of violence at
polling stations are expected to keep many voters away.
“The Bangladesh government should end its crackdown on the
political opposition leaders and activists, and create
conditions for free and fair elections,” U.S.-based Human Rights
Watch said in a statement.
“Opposition parties should condemn and end violence by their
supporters.”
Bangladesh’s $22 billion garment industry, which accounts
for 80 percent of exports, has been disrupted by transportation
blockades ahead of the election.
The Awami League argues that the interim government system
has failed in the past.
While black-and-white campaign posters – colour is not
allowed – hung in parts of the capital, the main opposition’s
absence means the election has lacked the pomp and suspense of a
fully competitive poll.
Hasina has spoken of holding talks with the opposition
following the polls on the conduct of future elections. If
successful, that could lead to another election.
The BNP demands a halt to the current electoral process.
In the event of a breakdown of law and order, the military
could step in to take power, as it did in 2007, but is seen as
reluctant to do so.
(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Ron
Popeski)
